Kelsey Grammer Letter Thwarts Parole Of Sisterâ€™s Killer

Kelsey Grammer planned to attend the parole hearing of Freddie Glenn in Colorado on Monday. The 52-year-old is serving a life sentence for the first-degree rape and murder of the actor’s sister, Karen Grammer, in 1975. Due to inclimate weather conditions, Grammer was unable to attend the hearing in Colorado Springs — so he sent a heartfelt letter instead.

The letter, sent to Robert Russel, the retired El Paso and Teller County Colorado District Attorney, who successfully prosecuted Glenn in the case, was read at the hearing Monday morning, where the convicted killer was denied parole.

The letter reads in part:

“I am saddened that I missed this opportunity to be at the hearing. You know the circumstances: rain delays at Kennedy that made it impossible for me to be in Colorado Springs in time to attend…Please tell the members of the parole board that it is my sincere hope they do not release my sister’s killer.”

Grammer went on to describe his later sister as “smart and good and decent,” writing:

“She was so smart and good and decent. She wrote poetry and loved being alive; we could laugh for hours together, she had the greatest smile. She was my best friends and the best person I knew. She had so much to live for. I loved my sister, Karen. I miss her. I miss her in my bones. I was her big brother. I was supposed to protect her — I could not. I have never gotten over it. I was supposed to save her. I could not. It very nearly destroyed me.”

Kelsey says he has forgiven Glenn, but remains haunted by what happened to Karen, who was just 18 when she was killed.

“Forgiveness allows me to live my life. It allows me to love my children and my wife and the days I have left with them. But I can never escape the horror of what happened to my sister…I can never accept the notion that he can pay for that nightmare with anything less than his life. We all make choices. He made his. Surely a man who has killed so many must never take a single breath as a free man.”

The actor then pleads with the parole board to not release Glenn:

“Please consider, when you wrestle with the fate of this man that killed my sister, the degree of suffering he has inflicted on his victims but also on the families of his victims. It has been many years since the murders and he has spent many years in jail. We, whose lives were so altered by his selfishness and brutality, have spent those years in a prison of our own. Yes, time has helped. But we will never be free. Why should his fate be any different? More importantly, however, how can you believe this man can be safely returned to society? Consider the extreme nature of his crimes – the disregard for simple humanity. This is a butcher. This is a monster. Is it really possible for him to live on the outside again without returning to his old ways? Can you be certain that he will not slaughter another innocent life and destroy another family?”